Field Hockey: Carroll victorious over O'Hara, wins PCL championship

MARPLE — Becca Zamojcin has seen how both halves live, and she prefers feeling the way she and her Archbishop Carroll teammates feel this time around.

The Patriots were heavy favorites to win the Catholic League championship last year after running through the PCL gauntlet unbeaten. This time around, they were underdogs after losing to rival Cardinal O’Hara less than two weeks ago in the teams’ regular-season meeting. The Lions were deemed the favorites to win Sunday’s league title game and break the Carroll stranglehold.

Not quite. Meet the new boss. Turns out it’s the same as the old boss. A pair of late O’Hara corners went by the wayside and Katie Kelly’s first-half goal stood up as the winner as the Patriots blanked the host Lions, 1-0, to earn their third straight championship. Both teams’ seasons continue in the state tournament as Carroll opens Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the Germantown Super Site against Donegal, while O’Hara is at the same place and time Wednesday against the loser of the District One fourth-place game between Central Bucks West and Wissahickon.

“I think I like being the underdog better,” Zamojcin said. “It’s more exciting.”

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Underdog status came after a 2-0 loss to the Lions in the first go-round, but Carroll (14-4-1) wasn’t about to let its beloved hardware reside in the halls of Cardinal O’Hara for the next year. The Lions (19-2-0) had a few golden opportunities late, but Patriots goalie Becca Brosious stoned All-Delco Grace Boston in close on a corner with 2:30 to go. Later, Boston had another chance to tie the game in the waning seconds, but her shot went just wide to start the Patriots’ celebration.

“I was freaking out, actually,” said Brosious, who needed four saves for her eighth shutout of the year. “I just wanted to get it out. I was freaking out the whole game.”

Ultimately, Carroll did just that before finally being named the PCL champion yet again. In the first game between the two, the Patriots struggled to adapt to O’Hara’s speed. The Lions are easily the fastest team in Delaware County and those wheels helped them put stress on the Carroll defense in the first game. This time around, Patriots coach Deb Brown countered by moving some of her players like a masterful chess player, including sending Zamojcin to the center mid position from her usual center back spot. The move enabled Zamojcin to play all over the field, something the junior Virginia commit did to perfection.

“We were ready. We knew that they were fast, but we changed our lineup around and we knew what to do this time,” Zamojcin said. “I didn’t expect a shutout. ...We kind of changed our lineup so we had some of their forwards matched up.”

It marked the first time this year that the Lions failed to break through, but the Patriots still needed an offensive spark, and as they have all year, they got it from Katie Kelly, an All-Delco a year ago. With less than six minutes to go in the first half, Kelly got a pass off a corner from her twin, Megan, and put a move on a defender before cranking a shot that went off Liz Piszker’s pad and into the upper part of the net. Kelly didn’t know it then, but it would be all the offense the Patriots needed.

“I saw open space to my right and I just pulled to the right,” Kelly said of her 20th goal of the season. “And I had an open shot and I just took it. I think it deflected off (Piszker), but we were so happy when it went in.”